Baghdad, September 25
US warplanes, tanks and artillery units struck the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah today, killing at least eight persons and wounding 15 in a day that saw new violence across the country.

Iraqi men carry a body, following a US army bombardment in the town of Falluja
on Saturday. — Reuters
photo

Saddam in good health: Iraqi minister
Beirut, September 25
Saddam Hussein is in good health, the Iraqi Interior Minister told a Saudi-owned newspaper published today after meeting the imprisoned former Iraqi leader last week.
“Saddam Hussein was in good health and did not seem to have lost his arrogance,” Falah
al-Naqib told London-based daily Asharq Al-Awsat.

Allawi’s safety claims hollow, say Iraqis
Iraqis reacted with astonishment and derision yesterday to a claim made by the interim Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, before the US Congress that 14 or 15 out of Iraq’s 18 provinces “are completely safe.”

Local people visit the US anti-submarine warfare destroyer in the east China’s port city Qingdao on Friday. The destroyer from the US Pacific fleet, with a crew of 351, arrived in Qingdao for a four-day goodwill visit.
— AP/PTI

A Romanian villager rides in his horse-driven cart at sunrise near Bucharest
on Saturday. Horse-driven vehicles are still a common form of transport in the countryside in Romania, which hopes to join the European Union in 2007.
— Reuters

Fixing Canada’s ailing healthcare system
Haggling for over 50 hours in full public view at a televised summit and hard sell in private, the Federal government and the provinces have agreed on fixing the ailing healthcare system in Canada.

Osama is alive: Musharraf
New York, September 25
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said he was reasonably sure that Osama bin Laden was alive.
“Yes, I am reasonably sure,” he said in an interview to CNN when asked if the world’s most wanted terrorist was still alive.

Paintings are on view at the 26th Sao Paulo Biennial Art Show in Sao Paulo, Brazil,
on Friday. Latin America's premier art show opens this weekend, a panorama of paintings, sculptures and photographs by 140 artists from 60 countries that puts Brazil's biggest city in the vanguard of the art world. The show runs through
December 19.
— AP/PTI

Baghdad, September 25
US warplanes, tanks and artillery units struck the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah today, killing at least eight persons and wounding 15 in a day that saw new violence across the country.

Dhiya al-Jumaili of Fallujah General Hospital said at least eight persons were killed and 15 wounded, including women and children.

In Baghdad, gunmen opened fire on a vehicle carrying Iraqi National Guard applicants, killing six persons, the police said. The slayings were part of a militant campaign targeting Iraqi security forces and recruits in a bid to thwart US-backed efforts to build an Iraqi force capable of taking over security from American troops.

Police Lt. Omar Ahmed said the group had just left a national guard recruiting centre where they had signed up to join the force in the west Baghdad
neighbourhood of Al-Jamiyah when the attack occurred.

Five mortar shells also struck the Iraqi Oil Ministry in Baghdad today, causing minor damage to the building and shattering windows, said ministry spokesman Assem Jihad. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The US military said the Fallujah strikes targeted a meeting point in the centre of the city, west of Baghdad, for fighters loyal to Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi.— AP

Beirut, September 25
Saddam Hussein is in good health, the Iraqi Interior Minister told a Saudi-owned newspaper published today after meeting the imprisoned former Iraqi leader last week.

“Saddam Hussein was in good health and did not seem to have lost his arrogance,” Falah al-Naqib told London-based daily Asharq Al-Awsat.

“He had the same arrogance and when he heard that we were coming to see him, he changed out of his “dishdasha” (traditional Arab clothes) and put on a white shirt and a suit.”

According to Naqib, who had a brief meeting with the deposed leader accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh, Saddam refused to answer questions about why he had made the Iraqi and Kurdish people suffer so much.

“I do not want to hear anything about the matter,” Saddam reportedly said.
— AFP

Iraqis reacted with astonishment and derision yesterday to a claim made by the interim Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, before the US Congress that 14 or 15 out of Iraq’s 18 provinces “are completely safe.”

“The truth is exactly the reverse,” said a lorry driver, Abu Akil, as he queued for diesel yesterday. “There are 15 provinces which are dangerous and only the three Kurdish provinces in the north are okey. This speech was designed to be heard by Americans and not by Iraqis.”

The lorry drivers, desperate to feed their families, take great risks but they admit that many roads are now too dangerous. “The speech was ridiculous,” said Maithan Maki. “When Allawi became Prime Minister I was in favour of him but things have got worse and worse.” Mr Allawi’s visit to the USA may be doing him lasting damage in Iraq, reinforcing the impression that he is a pawn and out of touch with real events. Iraqis were aware when the US appointed him interim Prime Minister that he had long been financed by the CIA and MI6, but were prepared to forgive this if he could restore security.

Few people in Iraq know more about security in the country’s 18 provinces than its lorry drivers, who run the gauntlet of bandits, US patrols, insurgents and police. “All the roads are dangerous,” said Mr Maki.

Haggling for over 50 hours in full public view at a televised summit and hard sell in private, the Federal government and the provinces have agreed on fixing the ailing healthcare system in Canada. Minority liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin shackled by his own electoral pledge “to fix healthcare for a generation” had to scale up his offer from $ 14.8 billion for a six-year period to $ 18 billion. This left the Federal Government and the premiers satisfied, but the larger question of treating the ailing healthcare system still remained on the agenda.

The meeting was short on ideas and long on rhetoric and scoring points. It was money all the way that remained the point of haggling. Provinces under the aegis of the Federal Council first asking for $ 36.5 billion fix and then targeting at $18 billion and Martin keeping it at $ 14 billion or so, remained deadlocked for full three days. It was brinkmanship in full public glare, where even those provinces like Ontario ruled by Liberals (those ruling at the centre), went for a clear hard sell. There are indeed some lessons for the Indian political class that basic interests matter over party affiliations.

Paul Martin and his Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh could pat themselves that they extracted a good deal of promises from the provincial premiers for the money that they were to get and the premiers could also go back to their native capitals boasting about the deal they have extracted.

A national strategy will be set in five priority areas: cancer care, cardiac treatment, diagnostic tests like MRIs, joint replacements and cataract surgeries to reduce waiting time.

It may surprise many in India where healthcare as yet is not of high standards that the waiting time for cataract surgery in Canada is at least eight months, joint replacement sometimes touches one year and spans to two years. And the time in case of heart and brain surgeries is much more as is the case with latest diagnostic technology. Canada nevertheless prides in healthcare and is under threat from the philistine private sector where the cost normally is 20 times more.

The Martin and Dosanjh team extracted from the provinces a promise that maximum wait time will be set by the end of December, 2005. Under the strategy, no province will be “penalised” by losing federal money if it fails to deliver a medical service within the “benchmark” time.

In turn, provinces are free to establish their own “targets” for when they will be able to meet the “benchmarks.”

A home-care strategy will see governments pay for “short-term acute services” that are now covered only when a patient is in hospital. Those services will now be provided at no charge when delivered at home, and will include acute community mental health and end-of-life care.

Provinces also agreed to publish data on what their wait times actually are. These “comparable data” will show, for example, how long you have to wait for emergency hip surgery or an elective hip replacement in one province or another.

Martin hoped, “It will kickstart a reduction in the waiting time all across the country. It will improve access to healthcare professionals so that Canadians can see a doctor when they need to and where they need to. It will result in expansion of home-care services across the country and better pharmacare coverage.”

It is yet to be seen how the issues of shortage of manpower at all levels and equipment is finally addressed. In a country where qualified doctors drive taxis or be babysitters and work as salespersons or waiters, it is indeed ironical to talk day in, day out about fixing the healthcare system.

New York, September 25
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said he was reasonably sure that Osama bin Laden was alive.

“Yes, I am reasonably sure,” he said in an interview to CNN when asked if the world’s most wanted terrorist was still alive.

Asked if Osama would be killed or captured, Gen Musharraf said, “no, I can’t say with confidence because we don’t know his location.”

He said the FBI was working closely with Pakistan intelligence agencies in the hunt for Osama.
— UNI

BRIEFLY

12 die as
ferry sinks
BEIJING: An overloaded ferry sank in China’s Yellow River killing at least 12 persons and leaving 36 missing, the China Daily newspaper said on Saturday. The ferry, carrying 69 persons, capsized in bad weather on Thursday en route to a small island in Linyi county, in the northern province of Shanxi, it said 21 persons were rescued.
— Reuters

Bangladesh
todestroy mines
DHAKA: Bangladesh will destroy about 2,00,000 anti-personnel landmines by next March to abide by a commitment to the United Nations, an Army official said on Saturday. Canada has agreed to pay for the cost of destroying the mines, he said. More than 8,000 Bangladeshi troops are serving as peacekeepers in 12 UN missions around the world.
— AP

Malaysian "Scorpion Queen" Nur Malena Hassan plays with scorpions she has been living with in
Kuantan, about 300 km east of the capital Kuala Lumpur, on
Saturday. Nur Malena, 27, on Saturday reached her 36th day living with more than 6,000 scorpions, after beating Thai Kanchana Ketkeaw who spent 32 days with 3,000 scorpions.
— Reuters